Room 303
by Dr.Kerry
Summary: I could feel life being sucked out of me, almost purposefully slowly to lengthen my agony. It was something ineffable, unspeakable, beyond any living experience.


Disclaimer: Trinity, Neo, and the Matrix don't belong to me, yadda yadda yadda  
  
Author's note: This is my first Matrix fanfic, and English is not my first language, so please don't go down too hard on me, but constructive critics are welcome.   
  
I really thought I had made it. I could already hear the phone ringing in distance as I made my way through the corridors of the dirty cheap motel, numbers flashing at the corner of my eyes as I passed each door by, getting closer and closer to room 303.   
  
306…  
  
305…  
  
304…  
  
I picked up my last energies and slammed myself against the door, which broke open under my weight…and I stopped dead in my tracks, realizing with horror that the way to the phone and thus the real world was blocked by an agent.   
  
Agent Smith, holding a gun right in front of me, aiming right at my abdomen.   
  
The next thing I felt was the racket of the gunshot echoing in my ears as the bullet pierced my stomach from side to side. I don't remember even registering the pain, I just lowered my gaze to my bloody hand and the hole in my shirt, not fully aware of what happened yet. Not until I met Smith's eyes.   
  
Even through his sunglasses I could see satisfaction dancing in his cold eyes as he undoubtedly enjoyed the look of surprise and confusion written on my face. He aimed his gun again and before I had even the time to react I felt a pain so sharp in my chest I thought I was going to pass out. My knees buckled dangerously under my weight and I stumbled backwards, clutching my ribcage, until I felt the solid presence of the wall against my back, holding me up as the ache and the loss of blood made me weaker and weaker, so tired that I could barely stand on my own legs.   
  
But I couldn't just give up.  
  
Not until I exhaled my last breath. I could not allow him to win and kill me, and with me Morpheus' and the others' hopes. With my face screwed up in pain and breathing heavily I lifted my gaze once again in a silent challenge to Smith, whose face stood about a foot above mine, eyes observing attentively my human reactions with a look of superiority and disdain. And then he shot again, emptying his gun on my chest. I felt warm blood rushing out of my back, soaking my shirt and staining the dark wall as I slowly collapsed to the floor and my world faded to black.   
  
I could sense the stillness of my heart in my chest, and I was unable to breath. God, I felt the need to, I wanted to, but I just couldn't bring myself to open my mouth and draw in precious air. I had no more control on my body, even the pain and the coldness of the floor against my skin were distant, they felt more like memories of past sensations than real ones. I perfectly knew it was going to be over in no time. I was going to die. Die. Death. Those words swirled in my mind until they had no more significance. Just simple bundles of letters.   
  
I have this memory of my life in the matrix, someone telling me that death it's just a word to define something we can't quite describe, that we can't have a tangible experience of. And when we do, nothing matters. The word, the feeling, anything. Because we're gone.   
  
Bullshit.   
  
I could feel life being sucked out of me, almost purposefully slowly to lengthen my agony. It was something ineffable, unspeakable, beyond any living experience. Transcending the planes of human perception of reality to reach a level of spiritual sorrow far worse than any physical or psychological pain.  
  
Before the last, thin chain that kept my soul anchored to my body broke, I saw something. I don't know whether the command to open my eyes came from my brain or not, but at a certain point the engulfing blackness left room to colors. Grey and blue stains melding together to form an indistinct image of the Nebuchadnezzar core.  
  
I could barely distinguish forms, but I could recognize the familiar tangle of tubes, wires and cables my eyes always settled upon when my body woke up from our trips in the matrix. I wondered was that meant. Maybe on the brink of death the mind can't be controlled anymore and it disconnects from the matrix. That would also explain why in my coppertop life I heard every so often of people experiencing the sight of a great white light while they were in a coma, interpreting that as the way to heaven. Maybe what they saw was the real world, its faint, gloomy illumination transformed into an almost unbearable brightness by their never used, ultra sensitive eyes, which was actually very similar to my experience in the power plant when I was freed. In that case the light really meant freedom and salvation.   
  
I had been on the Neb just for a few weeks, but it felt like centuries, each moment stretched to years under the weight of the burden I carried. The answer, the first denial, the discovery of a whole new world, the training, the Oracle, the expectations of the others, her…   
  
Her.  
  
Her face had now appeared in my field of vision, much reduced to the fact that my eyelids felt so heavy and I had so little control of them I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes more than the bare minimum. She was looking at something as sparkles coming from above flew everywhere, then she turned to me, her gaze settling intently on my face. I became vaguely aware of her hand rubbing my shoulder as she lowered her head towards me, whispering words my brain couldn't decipher in a tone that somehow soothed, reassured me. Like she was telling me she wouldn't let me die, that she would stand by me forever.  
  
Crackling noises came from wires on my right side and other yellow sparkles fell to the floor as she bent her head and closed the gap between us, her lips pressing gently against mine in the most meaningful of kisses.   
  
A rush of emotions flowed through me like a tumultuous river as the bud of feelings I already had for her blossomed in my chest into the purest form of love.   
  
God, I didn't want to let this feeling go. I wasn't ready to surrender to death. Not now that   
  
I had to come back to her. She trusted me, I couldn't deceive her.  
  
I suddenly remembered a conversation I had had with Morpheus when I hurt myself during jump training.   
  
'I thought it wasn't real.'  
  
'Your mind makes it real'  
  
Maybe I could find a way to cheat my own mind.   
  
I tried to focus on the fact that my body in the real world was perfectly healthy. There were no holes in my torso, nor steely bullets in my heart, it was just an illusion. Everything in the matrix was an illusion. No spoon. No bullets. No blood. No death…  
  
************  
  
My sensory awareness returned full force as my remote subconscious detached from the virtual death of my digital self, and I was thrown into a storm of sensations.   
  
The softness, sweetness of Trinity's lips, the warmth of her hand on my back, the cold of steel in my head, the noise of a laser in background. And finally I desperately gasped for air, my lungs filling to capacity and my heart beating wildly against my breastbone. A fraction of a second later, I opened my eyes in the matrix.   
  
'Now, get up.' I felt Trinity's voice echo in my mind, as if she were talking from inside my head. I complied immediately, raising to my feet, feeling self-confident once again. I had been able to break the matrix rule that cost life to so many people before me.   
  
Agent Smith slowly turned towards me as he realized he hadn't defeated me yet. The other programs imitated him and the three of them aimed their guns at me. They wouldn't get me this time. I was the One. And I was gonna prove it to them.  
  
"No" I said calmly as they fired repeatedly, sending several bullets flying in my direction, incredibly slowly. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. I simply raised a hand in front of me, and the bullets came to a halt a few centimetres from it, dead in mid air.   
  
Morpheus was right. When I was ready, I wouldn't need to dodge bullets.   
  
I took one between my thumb and forefinger, studying it, still quite mesmerized at what I had done. I let it fell to floor, followed by all the others as I lowered my gaze, ordering them down with my eyes.   
  
As I raised my head to look at the agents, my eyes met green. Green lines of symbols and numbers running descending frantically on a black background. The code…I could see everything in code, I could feel every change in the matrix…I could sense Agent Smith's every move before he acted as he ran towards me and uselessly tried to hit me with a gust of punches, his rage swelling as I blocked each one effortlessly.  
  
Soon sick of this game and looking forward to go back to the real world I grasped his wrist and twisted his arm in an unnatural position, making him wince in pain.   
  
I kicked him in the chest, sending him flying meters away from me. His eyes never left mine as he got to his feet and watched me walk to him, slowly at first, then with a spurt I jumped into his code, my own one mingling with his and working as a virus to delete him.  
  
His shell exploded, leaving me standing in the middle of the long corridor, eyes closed and breathing deeply, growing accustomed to the overwhelming sensation of power I now felt within me.  
  
My gaze focused on the remaining agents, silently challenging them. They looked at each other and rushed away, each in a different direction.  
  
'Neo!' Trinity yelled inside my head, with an urgency in her voice I had never heard before. I put on a spurt once again to room 303, finding no obstacles on my way this time. The fast thumping of my heart ricocheted in my years as I picked up the receiver of the phone and dissolved from the matrix.  
  
I was welcomed back in the real world by sounds of laser, of metal ripping metal and Trinity's piercing scream as she slid the plug off my head. My heart gave a jolt, both at the feeling of her body on mine and at the sudden realization we were being attacked by sentinels. God, she was protecting me. An awful sensation, like an electric shock, passed through me repeatedly for at least a minute, then everything went silent.  
  
A few endless moments later, I felt the warmth of Trinity's breath leave the side of my neck, and I opened my tired eyes to look at her face, drinking in her beauty, our gazes locking in a mutual declaration of love.  
  
She swallowed, and I brought a hand up to her shoulder, afraid she was going to withdraw from me. She responded by gently caressing my cheek with her knuckles, reassuring me, telling me she wasn't going anywhere. Warmth spread from my lower belly to every pore of my body as my hand slipped up to cup her neck, both of us aware of what was going to happen. I raised my head from the back of the seat, bringing her head down at the same time, so that we met halfway in a soft, tender kiss. All my nerves tingle with bliss as she leans against me and I know at last what my place in this world is.  
  
**FINE** 


End file.
